An interactive introduction to Census 2011 origin-destination data
01 January 2024
Origin-destination data shows the movement of people from one location to another, allowing us to explore things like migration and commuting patterns. It is sometimes known as "flow data".
This interactive article is here to guide you through some of the origin-destination data published for Census 2011.
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Workplace flow data represent usual residents aged 16 and over who were working in the week before the census. They show the location of workplaces in relation to an individual's usual residence.
It should be noted that the Covid 19 pandemic means that the travel patterns in this data do not reflect a normal condition, yet interesting and relevant patterns can still be observed.
Each blue point on this map represents 100 working people aged 16 and over, positioned based on their place of residence.
Zooming in on Greater London , we can start to see the individual points more clearly.
By animating these points, we can see the approximate journey to work of each of these people, including those who work from home.
We can start to understand these flows better if we highlight the place of residence of all the people who work in one area .
And then animate their journeys to work.
We can visualise migration flow data on a map in much the same way as workplace flow data.
Migration flow data shows the movement of residents who had a different address one year before Census Day. This includes migration both within the UK and from outside of the UK.
Each pink point on this map represents 100 people, positioned based on their place of residence on census day.
We can then filter these points to show only the people who lived at a different address 12 months before the census.
And we can animate these points to show where they migrated from.
People who migrated from outside of England and Wales (including other parts of the UK) are randomly placed within their country of origin.
You can use this section to explore the data at your own leisure.
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